Furious Ukip supporters have launched an email campaign against Labour’s business secretary after he suggested "a lot of” people who voted for the party did not have basic computer skils.

Chuka Umunna said that a lot of people who came from communities that had turned to the UK Independence Party at the recent European and local elections were unable to perform basic tasks on the computer.

Mr Umunna said these people were disconnected from the wider community because they “can’t do” things like “sending and receiving an email, browsing the internet, filling in an online form.”

Young Ukip supporters reacted with ire at the suggestion accusing Mr Umunna of patronising voters and launching an #emailchuka campaign on Twitter.

In the email entitled “insulting the electorate”, which he published on Twitter, he said he was the user of “3 active email addresses”.

He wrote: “As your Staff members in the Labour Party cannot perform simple tasks such as brief you for live TV, allow me to help you out a bit here.

“I think it is important for you to know that Nigel Farage has more than 70,000 Twitter followers than yourself, that Ukips Facebook page has more likes than Labour (approaching 250,000) and we have the fastest growing Youth Wing in the country.”

One Twitter user, who calls himself Purpurmel on the site, joked: “As a 'Kipper I can assure Chuka Umunna I'll be at the Telegram Office first thing Monday morn to lodge my complaint.”